On 9 October, the Hague Court of Appeal confirmed the District Court’s conclusion that the Netherlands must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% before 2020 to meet its obligations under national law.

For the first time in infringement proceedings, the CJEU has ruled that a national court, the French Conseil d’Etat, breached EU law for not making a preliminary reference regarding the interpretation of EU law in accordance with Article 267 TFEU.

The Court of Justice of the EU has held that, in judicial procedures based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, national courts must interpret procedural law consistently with the requirement that proceedings must not be prohibitively expensive.